This Blog will basically discuss economic issues, with some history and political events thrown in. The author is a mix of Conservative and Liberal impulses, with matching Authoritarian and Libertarian trends.

Wednesday, February 03, 2010

Tiptoe through the Meat Grinder

Matthew Slaughter makes me feel old, not because I disagree with anything he has written; simply because the World has changed so much in my time. It is indeed true that American Jobs are far more dependent upon complimentary foreign labor, but my digression probably relies on the fact these American Jobs reside in the area of Transmission, where it is simply a process of movement of Goods produced elsewhere. I know that I will hear from Many who would deny this sentiment, though Goods Transport and Information Sharing remain the only major growth areas in Employment over the last two decades. I worry most in Employment about the transmission of Employment up the Education scale, where the less-educated find themselves on continuous unemployment; abandoned by Corporate business simply based upon Wage–not Skill levels or Effort. I think there should actually be aTax which would equalize the Wage differentials on this lower class employment, and though the planned Taxation may not effect this aspect; it may not automatically be wrong!

One can ask What is Wrong about this Proposal? I favor Ezra Klein over Paul Ryan in the details, and of course, maybe the Reader should read this Piece. Yglesias complains about health care rationing for Seniors, yet even the most ignorant knows there must be some form of rationing in the last year of life. I would rather have a Cap on health insurance expense per year, over almost any other form of constraint; my effective Choice would be $30,000 per year, insisting that health care Providers present cheaper medical care or hospice care. I will now listen to the screams coming from all Sides; still, it is the only medical plan which makes sense.

There will be Those who question exactly How the above limitation can be reached. That is easy: simply leave it to the Patients! Tell All that the Government will underwrite no more than $30k per Patient per year, then let the Patients chose their own round of medical care. Expensive operations will be dismissed out of hand, simply because Patients would not be willing to front the rest of the bill. Patients say Yes to everything which Doctors propose because they are totally Insured, except for a Deductible. They would say something else if the situation was reversed, and Government took the front-end Deductible, and left the rest to the Patient. It sounds hopelessly cruel does it not? It is, but nothing else will stop the progression of health care Costs upward. lgl